What HB 1368 does: Restructures governance of Georgia’s community service boards (CSBs) by transferring executive director appointment authority from local governing boards to the DBHDD Commissioner. Executive directors would become DBHDD employees with expanded powers over hiring, firing, contracts, and daily operations. The Commissioner could authorize executive directors to bypass governing board decisions when a CSB does not meet performance standards. HB 1368 is the House companion to SB 535.
Consumer impact: CSBs deliver behavioral health and developmental disability services across Georgia. Centralizing executive director appointments under DBHDD could improve accountability and address underperformance, but removes a key mechanism for community input into local behavioral health priorities. Governing boards would lose meaningful authority, and the bill does not define the “performance standards” that trigger state override of local decisions. Consumers and families who participate in CSB governance through local board membership would see their influence reduced.